Extended City Term Limits

October 15, 2001

Term limits for elected officials are a good thing. They're a political safety valve to produce healthy turnover in government. They permit a regular infusion of fresh faces and ideas, and deter creation of autocratic and often corrupt political dynasties. They breathe new life into an old political idea: that public office should be a temporary opportunity to serve the public, not a lifetime career.

Still, there is no reason the Delray Beach City Commission shouldn't go ahead with its plan to let voters decide whether to extend commissioners' term limits from six to seven years. After all, the modification would apply only to exceptional cases, such as when a person is appointed to serve up to one year of an unexpired term on the commission. The change would enable that commissioner to then serve three full two-year terms in his or her own right.

The proposal is a good one even though it wouldn't solve the problem facing Mayor David Schmidt. If he decides to run for re-election in March 2002 and wins, he will be allowed to serve only one year of his two-year term, because he would have been in office for six years as of March 2003.

Commissioners wisely decided that if the new term limits were approved by voters, they would not take effect until 2003, to avoid the appearance that the move was made for Schmidt's benefit. That would seriously undermine public confidence in city leadership.

Commissioners still must formally vote on the proposal, which would then have to be approved by voters in the March 2002 municipal election. They should vote yes, and so should the public at large. There is nothing in this proposal that would undo or undermine existing term limit laws, which clearly are favored by the public.

The proposed change would simply clear up a technical problem that in some cases, such as Schmidt's, forces officials to leave office before their terms are up. That violates the will of the voters, for if they didn't want people to serve their full terms, they wouldn't vote for them in the first place.